There are different classes of gambling, and in the UK at least they are regulated differently: 1. Proper full-on skill-based gambling; Poker, Blackjack, type

There are different classes of gambling, and in the UK at least they are regulated differently: 1. Proper full-on skill-based gambling; Poker, Blackjack, type games, plus arguably Horse Racing and other sports where you learn the starts and make judgement calls. 2. 'Luck' based games; Pay money, get 'prize' - this is where loot boxes fall into, and in also in the real world, CTGs and LEGO Minifig bags (for example). You always get a prize no matter how small. 3. Raffles; Buy a ticket for a fixed sum, win a prize. The prizes on offer are known up front. Viewed slightly different (for some reason) - most non-business places can run one of these without a licence. However the nationwide Lottery does require a licence, even though it's basically just a raffle. Types 1 and 2 require different licences if you want to operate them, type one definitely has to have all the GambleAware[1] stuff prominently shown. You'll see on many daytime and light entertainment programs on TV that they run 'competitions' for the viewers where the question is stupidly simple. They do this to step around the 'gambling' licence issue. By asking a question (no matter how simple) it legally occludes the fact that the text-in/phone-in competition is basically a Lottery. Back to the point of Games... All games publishers have to do is get a gambling licence (for the region they want to sell the game in) and be up front that their game contains 'some gambling'. Of course though, if they do that, then they can't sell their game to minors... -- [1] http://www.whenthefunstops.co.uk/ http://www.whenthefunstops.co.uk/